Maple Valley’s strength as a community is what keeps it moving in the right direction according to Mayor Noel Gerken in his state of the city address April 2 to the Maple Valley Rotary Club.
“I want to discuss community because community is where it starts and ends,” Gerken said. “We have such an exceptional community here in Maple Valley.”
He pointed to the service of the members of Rotary, the Greater Maple Valley Community Center where the club meets, the Tahoma School District, the Lake Wilderness Arboretum, the Maple Valley Historical Society, Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety, and the recently formed Maple Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra as examples of what makes the city a great community to live in.
“I am proud to say the city has partnered with all of these groups in some way,” he said. “I’m proud to be associated with the city.”
Gerken also pointed to the changes the city government has gone through in the past year with new leadership, a new city manager in David Johnston, and three new council members as well as the move of city offices to space in the Windermere building as good things for the city.
Financial condition, he added, is “the basis of any organization.”
“Our city is in great financial condition,” he said. “We want to maximize your tax dollars to serve the community. We’ve had some challenges recently in the revenue area. This is still largely a bedroom community, so, we don’t have a large amount of industry or commercial. Because revenue is down, we’ve deferred some capital improvement projects.”
But, unlike other cities, Gerken said, Maple Valley is able to cut back on those types of projects rather than on operations and services while “we’re actually expanding services.”
In the short term, Fred Meyer is looking to start building this year, he said, as well as the city’s efforts to build a roundabout at Southeast 248th Street and Witte Road.
And in the long term the city is wrapping up work on the Four Corners subarea plan “which will serve as the blueprint for that area for the next 10 to 20 years.”
Also on the long term drawing board is a 10-year planning process for the Legacy site, a 54-acre site across from Rock Creek Elementary on Maple Valley Highway, which the city owns and hopes to eventually build a City Hall building on with the right private sector partner.
There is also the work being done on a draft master plan for the Summit ball fields near Four Corners but, Gerken said, the city doesn’t have the money to build it. Yet.
“The plan for that is to do a voter approved bond,” he said.
Gerken said he believes the city is doing a great job overall.
“We have a great community makes being in city government easier,” he said. “We’re working hard to improve our government and to improve our city on a daily basis. The future of Maple Valley is incredibly bright.”
